February 7, 2024

I dare say Shakespearian purists will be abhorred by the very idea of condensing "Julius Caesar" into fifteen scenes for a run time of twelve minutes, but this is actually quite a decently staged and watchable précis of just what happened to the Dictator of Rome leading up to and following the Ides of March. It's all a bit chaotic and half the time the actors seem still to be rehearsing, but it does venture out of doors towards the end and the en… read the rest.

I dare say Shakespearian purists will be abhorred by the very idea of condensing "Julius Caesar" into fifteen scenes for a run time of twelve minutes, but this is actually quite a decently staged and watchable précis of just what happened to the Dictator of Rome leading up to and following the Ides of March. It's all a bit chaotic and half the time the actors seem still to be rehearsing, but it does venture out of doors towards the end and the ensemble effort does convey some slight semblance of the perilousness of the history - even if it's clearly the same folk walking in and out of shot each time - just in different costumes. The inter-titles on the version I saw were in German, but that made little difference - good or bad - as if you don't know this story by now then the hammy antics of Charles Kent (Caesar) and Earle Williams (Brutus) probably won't encourage you to seek elaboration. This is worth a watch, though.

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